Gerald D'Cunha

  “It’s not the the time in your life, it’s the life in your time.” Bruce Springsteen   T he Monday blues are here, again; and, I have been trying to chase them away by listening to my favourite performer Bruce Springsteen’s songs. In fact, I had been watching many of his performances right through yesterday… and, today, here I am watching this one over and over again…   E ver since this song –‘Treat Her Right’ – was first recorded by Roy Head in 1965, more than twenty well-known artistes have performed the same, adding their-own distinct touch. I have watched the original version by Roy Head, the one by Tom Jones, and the one in the 2019 movie ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’… But, none of them had succeeded in chasing my blues away as the endearing version by Bruce Springsteen did. Everything about this stage performance is so lively, so spontaneous, and so simple yet compelling... that, there is something about it one cannot describe in words. Just as Bruce hims...

  “To be wronged is nothing, unless you continue to remember it.” Confucius   I don’t think, that, there exists a single soul on this planet who hasn’t been hurt by someone, or he/she hasn’t hurt someone. “To err is human.” This statement hasn’t been tossed around as just one more proverb. We are humans; hence, we err… We hurt others, including our own. And, others, including our own, do hurt us. That fact said, and that truth accepted, now what? Should we hold on to those hurts? Keep remembering, reminding, digging, re-digging those painful memories? Let’s pause for a moment and recall: Has digging, re-digging, remembering, reminding – accusing, blaming, screaming, swearing, threatening, emotional-blackmailing… yes, has any of these, which seems so familiar a thing for each of us, really helped one bit? Or, have all of these only added more mess and turmoil into our already turmoiled lives? F unny it sounds! We want peace and happiness; we want to walk light and f...

  “We would worry less if we praised more; thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction.” Henry Allen Ironside   T oday is ‘Ash Wednesday’, a Holy Day for Christians. The Lenten season begins today. Since the break of the dawn, I have been receiving (on WhatsApp) from many of my Catholic friends and relatives a message supposedly from Pope Francis. It’s a very relevant message from our present Pope, who is known for some revolutionary ideas about worship and living. I had come across this particular message three Lents before, in April, 2020 to be precise (Check on Google for it: ‘Pope Francis on prayer and fasting’ – published by ‘The Centre for Contemplative Practice’). The message had really made sense to me… But, this time around, the WhatsApp University has rebooted it after making liberal changes. Nevertheless, Pope’s basic message stays: “Dear fellow Catholics, there are several simple ways in which we all can and should observe ‘Fast’ and d...

  “Once all struggle is grasped, miracles are possible.” Mao Zedong   E very time we say, “Struggles make us strong”, we, also, ask God earnestly, to make our lives less struggle-some, if not completely struggle-free. So, it’s given, that Life comes with struggle and it stays there as long as Life stays. Only thing we get to see about struggle is, that some have more of it, and some have less of it… but, none has none of it! People like J.K. Rowling and Sindhutai Sapkal had not just more of it – they had mountains of it. But, these Legends turned their mountains of struggle to generate something sublime and make the society a better place to live in… give hope to those whose lives were struggle-some… When Life gave them lemons, they chose to make a lemonade… This was the old wisdom of the sages. In fact, J.K. Rowling said, “Rock-bottom became the solid foundation in which I built my life.”     T he life of Sindhutai Sapkal was a life of true Legend. Born ...

“Go slowly, my lovely moon, go slowly.” Khaled Hosseini   S ome days ago, when my friend Jayaprakash invited my wife and me to attend his father’s 80th birthday celebrations (scheduled to be held today), I heard, for the first time, the beautiful idea of man being able to see ‘Thousand Full-Moons’ in his lifetime. Considering the fact, that it takes around 28 days for a full-moon cycle, I learnt, that man has to wait a few more months after completing his 80 th birthday to claim, that he has lived to see thousand full-moons in his life. I, also, learnt, that it’s an important milestone in a man’s life, and as per the Hindu/Tamil tradition, it’s, generally, celebrated grandly only when his spouse is alive…                                                       My friend’s parents: Mr. & Mrs. Rajangam           ...

  “Maturity is not when we start speaking big things; It is when we start understanding small things.” Anonymous   F or quite some time, I have been getting a bit irritated with one of my junior-college students. The reasons can make you think how ‘silly’ I could be… to get irritated with this young man. Look at this one – the latest one. I had sent a message about today’s (8 a.m.) class to a group of students, including our young man. While all others in the group replied, “Yes Sir”, this young man, as usual, did not respond. I was concerned whether he had read my message or not (He had told me earlier, that he had deactivated the ‘blue-tick sign). So, before I went to bed, I sent one more message, “Beta , did you read my message?”… He instantly replied with a ‘Thumbs-up’! “What a busy man!” I grumbled aloud in irritation… “Who?” my wife asked me. I told her who it was, and why was I yelling – “What a busy man!” “Silly,” my wife tried to awaken me, “such a sma...

  “The same wind that blows down your house shakes berries from the bushes.” Marci Ridlon   “B e watchful about the effect of people and the information on your mind,” I heard this speaker telling his audience, “Some people you interact with and some information you consume can drain your energy and pull you down in life.” There are people who drain our energy, and they do pull us down. And, these people need not necessarily be ‘outsiders’; often, they are ‘insiders’ – what we call the ‘significant people’ in our lives.   Thus, cutting off these people from our lives can be a difficult task. Yet, we need to find out ways to work around them, so that their negativity doesn’t leave us drained and drag us down in life. Easier said than done… I know. But, experience does teach us, that, in Life, some ‘crap’, we can cut; some, we can only shield ourselves from… Let the crap be! When it comes to information, it’s relatively easier to cut the crap. After all, w...

    “The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs.” Charles De Gaulle T hapa is a young security guard in our Colony (where my classes are situated). A Nepali, he lives in a small shelter provided to him by the Society. As he is an in-house guard, almost every person in the Colony knows him… That includes every dog living here, too. Our Colony has several members from the dog family. My heart doesn’t allow me to call them ‘street dogs’, or ‘homeless dogs’. For, our Colony is their home… They live under the parked cars, rest over the benches, play with each other in our open spaces… And, above all, they serve us as additional security-guards alongside Thapa and his associates. Thapa carries in his hand a sturdy stick; dogs rally behind him. There is a fine bonding between him and the canines. He has given a name for each one of them… This morning, I was walking behind Thapa. As usual, a couple of dogs walked by his sides, regularly playing with h...

  “Valentine’s Day is the poet’s holiday.” Ted Koosner   E ven the all-mighty and omnipresent Google has turned pink this morning… Love is in the air, you see. Frankly, when I was in college, back home, I hadn’t heard about this ‘Love Day’. But, by the time I landed   in this big city – that’s some 43 years ago - it had already spread all over the world. When I heard my young students wishing each other (including their teachers) – ‘A Happy Valentine’s Day’ – yes, that’s when I realized, that when things are air-bore, they spread very, very fast. That’s also the time, I first began to grasp the meaning of the saying, “Jab jaago tab sabera”… Love was always in the air… I was just waking up to smell it! W hether the idea of celebrating this day as the “Valentine’s Day is a desi one or a videsi one – I really don’t care. It makes almost all of us feel a little high today. And, I think, that’s something nice… Thank God, they have dropped the idea of hugging the...

  “You never know where a blessing can come from.” Teena Marie   T his morning, I met a young lady (let me call her Vishakha), after a very long time… She was on way to her office. During the brief course of our discussion, I learnt, that she was presently working for a reputed CA firm after completing her CA exam some years ago. She seemed very happy about the progress she had made. “Thank you Sir, for the help you had offered when I needed it the most,” the girl said. “I can’t help enough Nilesh Sir, too,” she added, “It was because of his financial help, that I could venture into doing Chartered Accountancy.” Years ago, when she was doing her B.Com, Vishakha had come to see me, along with her mother. I learnt, that the mother was raising Vishakha all alone as her husband had deserted them. They lived in a small, rented house and faced a lot of financial problems. But, Vishakha was not only a bright student, she was, also, a confident and articulate girl. I had immed...

  “Why ask for your daily bread, when you own the bakery?” Randy Alcom   F or many years, I used to regularly receive a small booklet (free of cost) by the name – ‘Our Daily Bread’. It carried some simple, yet profound, reflections to help wade through our frantic life. It was published by a Christian organization.   When Covid broke out, I stopped receiving this booklet, and I completely forgot about it… Out of sight, out of mind! Some days ago, when my wife and I had gone to Mahim church for a novena, I stopped at the book counter just outside the exit… My eyes fell on this 2021 annual-edition   of ‘Our Daily Bread’. I, immediately,   began to glance through some of its pages, when I heard the man at   the counter gently nudge me, saying, “Please take it.” I pulled out a note of Rs. 500 to pay – without even checking the price… I was simply told with a smile, “It’s free.” That’s when I realized, that all the books and magazines displayed at th...